The low-lying Maldives Islands in the Indian Ocean are vulnerable to rising seas. Photo: danksy/flickr
Polar bears aren't the only ones losing their homes to rising temperatures. Look further along the chain of knock-on effects from rising temperatures, and one sees us in line to reap a harvest of dislocation.
The accumulating inventory of visible impacts from climate change -- melting glaciers and ice sheets, disappearing snowpacks, rising seas, coastal erosion, shifting coastlines, more droughts, more floods, increased frequency and intensity of fires -- are all reshaping the places we inhabit, and in time stand to affect where and how we live.
First in line for disruption -- that is unless you live in drought-and-fire-prone regions of southern California -- are the low-lying islands such as the Maldives, Tuvalu, and the coastal regions of river delta nations like Bangladesh. Significant coastal sections of Alaska along the Beaufort Sea already are melting into the rising sea.
The New York Times reports on Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed's effort to find new lands for his people. With an average elevation of about four feet above sea level, this Indian Ocean island chain will eventually disappear under rising seas. As ice sheets in places like Greenland melt, and the seawater itself warms and expands, places like the Maldives are set to slowly vanish beneath the waves.
Besides seeking a new landing spot for his citizens, Nasheed is also trying to make the Maldives achieve what most of the carbon-spewing first world cannot: carbon neutrality.
...“What we need to do is nothing short of decarbonizing the entire global economy,” he said, his high voice cracking. “If man can walk on the moon, we can unite to defeat our common carbon enemy.” Nasheed didn’t use notes for his speech; aides say he never does. “And so today,” he continued, “I announce that the Maldives will become the first carbon-neutral country in the world.”...
New York Times Magazine: Wanted: A New Home for My Country
Scientific American: How Will Climate Refugees Impact National Security?
Los Angeles Times: Santa Barbara Fire Coverage
Climate Institute: Policy Responses to Climate Refugees: What Are Governments Doing?
Climate Institute: Environmental Refugees
Norwegian Refugee Council: Future Floods of Refugees
Salon: Tuvalu is Drowning
Geology.com: Northern Alaska Coastal Erosion
Environment Magazine: Protecting Climate Refugees: The Case for a Global Protocol
Greenwire: Bangladesh - Where the Climate Exodus Begins
The Maldives have a bleak future, but its difficult to see what the impact will be for them simply by the Maldives becoming carbon-neutral. They are such a small country. The emissions of the rest of the world are what cause the problems in the Maldives, but every little helps, right?
Posted by: Rebecca Love | August 10, 2009 at 05:28 PM